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If you haven’t gotten in on Chris Huelsbeck’s “The Piano Collection” Album and Score Book Kickstarter, you only have a few more days to do so. The campaign, which shattered records by making its goal with 66 minutes of going live (just another notch on Mr. Huelsbeck’s belt after the fantastic success of his Turrican Soundtrack Anthology project), features a piano album performed by Patrick Nevian of Huelsbeck’s greatest musical compositions (Turrican, R-Type, etc.), and includes a score book of the piano sheet music and autobiography by former OSV writer Audun Sorlie available to certain tiers.

There’s a limited amount of physical printed copies remaining, so get in on them while you can. Digital copies and several other pledge tiers are also still open, and stretch goals of a roundtable team video and an original arrangement album release are still on the horizon. If this project is anything like Huelsbeck’s other works, it should be top-quality for all who pledge.

It’s been an interesting year for video game revivals. So many classic games and franchises of the late 1980s and early ’90s have gained new attention in form of remakes, re-releases and re-imaginings.

Last year, the Turrican series received its own revival in the form of a push by series composer Chris Huelsbeck to completely rearrange and re-record pretty much the entirety of the music of the Turrican game’s soundtracks. Praised as some of Huelsbeck’s best work in video game music composition, the futuristic melodies and powerful soundwork has survived through the years in the hearts of fans and the works of fellow composers who were inspired by Huelsbeck’s work with the series. Armed with such appeal in mind, as well as a personal desire to revisit the soundtracks he’d created two decades earlier, Huelsbeck sought to make his dream of reworking the Turrican soundtracks using updated recording technology and orchestral backing by the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne (who had performed the Turrican tribute Symphonic Shades for Huelsbeck). For such an undertaking, however, he would need fan support. Thus, a Kickstarter was created in April of 2012 to help fund the project.

And boy, did it get funded. Within it’s first week, over two-thirds of the project’s $75,000 requested budget had been secured through fan pledges. In the end, the Kickstarter had produced over 200% of it’s original goal, with a total pledged amount of $175,000. It had become one of the most successful Kickstarter drives in the crowd-funding site’s history at the time, and certainly meant Huelsbeck could achieve his dream and thensome.

And on November 26th, over a year and a half after the project’s successful funding, the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology was completed and released to its adoring fans.

MAGFest 11 had, without a doubt, the largest lineup of special guests and band performances in it’s history so far. The event has progressively upped the ante each successive year it’s been put on, and this year pushed the envelope with 3 notable composers from across the globe with extensive resumes of musical compositions to their names. One in particular was the German composer most notable for his several Amiga and Commodore 64 compositions, Chris Huelsbeck.

The fantastic concert featuring Journey, Legend of Zelda, StarFox, Unlimited SaGa, Final Fantasy and Turrican II among others will be streaming live today worldwide on WDR4 radio. The concert took place last week Friday, and was another smash-hit sell out from Thomas Böcker, producer of Symphonic Fantasies and many other acclaimed concerts.

Be sure to tune in at WDR4 website at 2:05pm EST, and let us know what you think of the show afterwards!

Alrighty folks. The Turrican Soundtrack Anthology Kickstarter campaign has officially closed. Here are the stats: the original stated goal of the project was to raise $75,000. Fans blew that “goal” away by pledging a total of $175,534, making it Kickstarter’s 3rd-most-successful music-based campaign since they raised over 200% of their stated goal and the goal itself was a significant figure.

(Fun facts: not only did I support this campaign, I also supported the 2nd-most-successful music-based campaign, for my favorite ska band ever, Five Iron Frenzy. The Amanda Palmer one, I somehow missed out on, but her “success” there is largely due to having an unrealistic starting goal: everyone knows Dresden Dolls and anyone/anything even remotely related to Neil Gaiman is going to rake in serious dough!)

The above YouTube embed is a fantastic little historical artifact. In it, you get a whole bunch of information from Hülsbeck himself, as he’s being interviewed by a number of special guests in the hour of the Kickstarter campaign’s closure. Producer Jan Zottmann and Willi Bäcker are on there, but most importantly, the special guest during this time was our very own Audun Sorlie! As you’ve seen in previousposts, Audi has been closely following this campaign and is certainly an ally to Hülsbeck in his endeavors.

Readers would do well to listen closely to the conversation here, as Audi mentions attending MAGFest to Chris — we’ve had some great Japanese composers as special guests at MAG in the past; methinks it’s time for some sweet sweet European love!

Thanks Audi for getting this livestream recorded, and we can’t wait to see the end result of the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology!

2000+ backers and funded 200%, the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology is now a reality. Chris Hülsbeck will be doing a live stream to celebrate that starts within the next few hours. Join the party, and welcome to Turrican!

It’s been a success story almost unparallelled, a pitch from a video game composer to rearrange, orchestrate and bring back some of the most well beloved music material in video games, and final budget goal at $75,000 for all the backers to receive a triple disc collectors set. What was thought to take months to achieve took merely one week, and Chris Hülsbeck could already see his dream of making the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology a reality for himself and the fans. The support has continued steadily without losing any momentum, and now, the project stands at $150,000+, an incredible 200% of the original intended budget. With this development, the announcement of an extra CD with even more material, a USB drive with the original soundtrack and a vinyl has been announced, along with many other upgrades to the overall presentation. Hülsbeck has always been on the forefront of the industry with his sound and techniques, and with the success of this project, he has yet again proven why he is one of the true legends of video game music.

For those who have yet to jump on board and secure themselves this now 4 disc collectors box, there is officially 3 days left to do so. There are numerous backing choices to choose from at different price point, with $25 landing you a digital copy and pdf booklet, $50 giving you the CD box set numbered and signed, and $75 giving you all the previous awards plus the limited Turrican branded USB stick with the original soundtrack to Turrican recorded right from Hülsbeck’s hardware.

Go on over to the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology Kickstarter and make sure to join before it is too late! For those who already funded, the first completed track has just been released, so make sure to check your email.

It is only one week since Chris Hülsbeck’s Kickstarter project, the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology, was announced to the world. What was then, a hope and dream over a 2 month period to revisit the past, has now become a reality. In less than 7 days, the Kickstarter has reached over $50,000 of the $75,000 asked, and is steadily climbing day by day, surely to exceed beyond the original goal. With the incredible success of the first week, Hülsbeck has provided his first of many upcoming updates.

Now, there are new pledges available. Most interestingly is the new Vinyl option. For $250 you get a LP record with the faithful recording of the original Amiga Turrican soundtrack, as well as the bonus side retro-remix style recording along with the boxset and the digital download which now also includes lossless FLAC files, allowing you to preserve the record as a collectible. The vinyl will also have exclusive artwork and your own name in the sleeve. There is also now an option to pledge 150 to receive 3 box sets as well as 3 individual download codes as well as campaign bonus track.

If you haven’t pledged yet, go to the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology and support this very exciting project, and check back for more news and details as they become available.

At the end of the 1980s, the video game world had found itself many new heroes, rising to their iconic place in video game history through the joyous trip of their virtual worlds and stories, gaining love and recognition from all nations and ages. The gaming landscape had become a place filled with the most vibrant of fantasies, a creative haven for young and old minds alike, creating an golden era of video games that would fill gamers with memories of unparalleled interaction, sound and action.

Turrican would in 1989 be the premier showcase of the power a video game could have, taking the breath away from gamers around the world with incredible graphics, vast worlds and an unforgettable soundtrack as the silver donned hero explored the alien world. It is due to the strength of the soundtrack that the game has become a fan favorite that still survives in the hearts of both new and seasoned gamers even today, a soundtrack composed by Chris Hülsbeck. Hülsbeck became a treasured member of the gaming industry across Europe with the unmatched melodic depth and futuristic appeal of his music, and as he continued his long career, he would go on to inspire many fellow musicians to take the step into the daunting world of video game music. Chris Hülsbeck became an icon, and his contributions and support has been celebrated numerous times, from sold out albums to sold out venues, performing his music in symphony with fans attending from around the world.

Now, Hülsbeck will prepare to celebrate the games which truly launched him into stardom with the announcement of the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology Kickstarter, a project that aims to arrange and celebrate the Turrican series. Among the plans, you find one of the finest orchestras in the world, The WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne, the orchestra most known for the award winning Symphonic Fantasies and Symphonic Shades, to be contributing to the project with all new arrangements from the legendary series. To achieve this, Chris Hülsbeck is now asking his fans to support him in a Kickstarter campaign to make the Turrican Soundtrack Anthology become a reality.

“My first Turrican album has sold roughly 10.000 units over the years. I know that the games still have a following, too. This project is a personal dream of mine and I hope that together with all the fans, we can make this happen!” -Chris Hülsbeck

By pledging $25.00 you get the whole album on MP3 + a PDF booklet, while $50.00 gets you a limited edition numbered and signed 3 CD set. + the MP3′s before the album is printed. Aside from the finished CDs, supporters of the project can get their hands on numerous goodies like posters, t-shirts, Turrican ringtones for their mobiles, or even tickets for an orchestral game music concert that will take place in November in Cologne, Germany. Those who are willing to support the project with a larger sum may take an exclusive look behind the scenes and will be personally informed by Chris about the progress during the production. With the orchestra, studio production, premium booklet and packaging prints, the goal is $75,000, and will run until June 3rd.

For many, our youths would not have been filled with the melodic memories that Hülsbeck provided, and for some, without his soundtracks, they would not be here today instilled with the passion and lifelong love for video games, such as yours truly.

Chris Huelsbeck and Yoko Shimomura, East and West of video game music meeting in a grand concert. Who would’ve thought it! But this is becoming a reality in unique concert in Stockholm, Sweden: Sinfonia Drammatica. The concert will combine both Huelsbeck’s Symphonic Shades with drammatica, Yoko Shimomura’s orchestral album. Arnie Roth will be conducting the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a special treat to those lucky folks able to attend (I hope to be one of them myself!), Chris Huelsbeck and Yoko Shimomura will even be available for a meet and greet.

We had the chance to interview both of the composers and get their thoughts about this unique East-meets-West event, and also got their opinions on each other’s music. We’re definitely looking forward to the show on August 4, 2009, so click the link to see what they have to say about it! (more…)

We have good news today on two fronts. First of all, the album release for the Symphonic Shades concert featuring the music of Chris Hülsbeck (that’s “Huelsbeck” for those of you who fear the almighty umlaut) has sold so well that they’ve burned through their inventory and are offering an identical second edition later this month. Even better, it’s being sold at a lower price, and is currently available for pre-order here.

The second piece of good news is that we have two copies of the first edition here in our offices just for you. So, what do you have to do to win one? Simple! Send us an audio file of you saying “Hülsbeck,” and the two entries that we find the most entertaining will win a copy of the album. Send your entries to contest@originalsoundversion.com by May 28, 2009 at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time to be considered!

Are you at all surprised by the popularity of this album? Are you with many others in thinking it was one of the best albums of 2008?

December marked the release of Symphonic Shades, the album release for the highly-praised concert that took place in Germany last year featuring the music of veteran composer Chris Hülsbeck. It features orchestrated arrangements from many classic games, including titles such as Turrican and R-Type. With only 1,000 copies having been printed, we were fortunate enough to be able to review this album, so join us after the jump.